Safe Food Handling Tips

At Green Chef, customer safety is our top priority. Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential to prevent foodborne illness. You can’t see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause illness. To help you make sure that the products you purchase, store, and prepare are kept safe, Green Chef has put together information provided by the FDA, USDA, and other government agencies here, in one easy place, for your reference. You can also go to the direct links of these agency guidelines for more information.* In every step of food preparation, follow these four steps of the Food Safe Families campaign to help keep food safe:

Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often.

Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and handling pets.

Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels, launder them often in the hot cycle.

Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Scrub firm produce with a clean produce brush.

Separate: Don’t cross-contaminate.

Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from other foods in your storage and refrigerator.

Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood.

Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs unless the plate has been washed in hot, soapy water.

Don’t reuse marinades used on raw foods.

Cook: Cook to the right temperature.

Color and texture are unreliable indicators of safety. Using a food thermometer is the only way to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, seafood, and egg products for all cooking methods. These foods must be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature to destroy any harmful bacteria.

Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm. Only use recipes in which eggs are cooked or heated thoroughly.

When cooking in a microwave oven, cover food, stir, and rotate for even cooking. If there is no turntable, rotate the dish by hand once or twice during cooking. Always allow standing time, which completes the cooking, before checking the internal temperature with a food thermometer.

Bring sauces, soups, and gravy to a boil when reheating.

Chill: Refrigerate promptly

Use an appliance thermometer to be sure the refrigerated temperature is consistently 40° F or below and the freezer temperature is 0° F or below.

Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and other perishables within 2 hours of cooking and refrigerate these items immediately after unpacking from the Green Chef meal kit box.

Never thaw food at room temperature, such as on the countertop. There are three safe ways to defrost food: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water or in the microwave should be cooked immediately.

Always marinate food in the refrigerator.

Divide large amounts of leftovers into shallow containers for quicker cooling in the refrigerator.

Sanitize cutting boards by using a solution of 1 teaspoon chlorine bleach in 1 quart of water.

Cooking

Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145°F (62.8°C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.

Ground meat: Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160°F (71.1° C) as measured with a food thermometer.

Poultry: Cook all poultry to an internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C) as measured with a food thermometer.

Serving

Cold food should be held at 40°F (4.4°C) or colder.

Perishable food should not be left out more than 2 hours at room temperature—1 hour when the temperature is above 90°F (32.2°C).

Leftovers

Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours—1 hour if the temperature was above 90°F (32.2°C).

Place food into shallow containers and immediately put in the refrigerator or freezer for rapid cooling.

Raw Eggs*

Use hard-cooked eggs (in the shell or peeled) within 1 week after cooking.

Use frozen eggs within 1 year. Eggs should not be frozen in their shells. To freeze whole eggs, beat yolks and whites together. Egg whites can also be frozen by themselves.

Refrigerate leftover cooked egg dishes and use within 3 to 4 days. When refrigerating a large amount of a hot egg-containing leftover, divide it into several shallow containers so it will cool quickly.

Preparation

Wash hands, utensils, equipment, and work surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after they come in contact with raw eggs and raw egg-containing foods.

Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny.

Casseroles and other dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160°F. Use a food thermometer to be sure.

For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served—like Caesar salad dressing and homemade ice cream—use either shell eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products.

Serving

Follow these serving guidelines for eggs and egg dishes.

Serve cooked eggs (such as hard-boiled eggs and fried eggs) and egg-containing foods (such as such as quiches and soufflés) immediately after cooking. Cooked eggs and egg dishes may be refrigerated for serving later but should be thoroughly reheated to 165°F before serving.

Never leave cooked eggs or egg dishes out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours or for more than 1 hour when temperatures are above 90°F. Bacteria that can cause illness grow quickly at warm temperatures (between 40°F and 140°F).

For party planning, keep hot egg dishes hot and cold egg dishes cold:

Keep egg dishes refrigerated until time to serve.

Serve small platters of reheated egg dishes at a time to ensure the food stays at the proper temperature. Replenish as needed, or at least every 2 hours.

Keep cold egg dishes on ice if they are going to stay out longer than 2 hours.

Seafood*

Storage

Put seafood on ice or in the refrigerator or freezer soon after receiving it. If seafood will be used within 2 days after purchase, store it in the refrigerator. Otherwise, wrap it tightly in plastic, foil, or moisture-proof paper and store it in the freezer.

Separate raw seafood from cooked foods.

Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after handling any raw food.

Preparation

Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with soap and hot water between the preparation of raw foods, such as seafood, and the preparation of cooked or ready-to-eat foods.

Thaw frozen seafood gradually by placing it in the refrigerator overnight. If you have to thaw seafood quickly, either seal it in a plastic bag and immerse it in cold water or—if the food will be cooked immediately thereafter—microwave it on the “defrost” setting and stop the defrost cycle while the fish is still icy but pliable.

Most seafood should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F. If you don’t have a food thermometer, there are other ways to determine whether seafood is done:

Fish: The flesh should be opaque and separate easily with a fork.

Shrimp and Lobster: The flesh becomes pearly and opaque.

Scallops: The flesh turns opaque and firm.

Clams, Mussels, and Oysters: The shells open during cooking—throw out ones that don’t open.

Serving

Never leave seafood or other perishable food out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours or for more than 1 hour when temperatures are above 90°F. Bacteria that can cause illness grow quickly at warm temperatures (between 40°F and 140°F).